Following Ginjiro Takeuchi's
breakdown, Kingo Gondo leaves the cell to meet
with detective Tokura. The two have some final
words as they walkout together before the movie
ends.

Background

The ending to High and Low was fairly
up in the air until the last moments of production,
facing many revisions involving the Gondo
and Tokura characters. One of the earlier
drafts had the pair walking while Gondo mentions
that "Heaven isn't always found someplace
up high", before the camera was to pan
up to his former house high on the hill, a
line and sequence which would have played
well on both the original (Heaven and Hell)
and international (High and Low) titles
for the movie. Another ending had the two
walking into the woods before the picture
ended, while yet another had the pair shaking
hands while Tokura notes the texture of Gondo's
hand and relates how this was a man who truly
worked his way up before the kidnapper Takeuchi
broke him down to his current position.

The one that was filmed, however, was more
mundane and quick in its closure of the production.
This scene was filmed, and was used for the
trailer of the movie, but ended up on the
cutting room floor in post production by Akira
Kurosawa who felt that the movie's closure
was far more powerful with leaving Takeuchi's
scream and being dragged off as the final
scene.